Coast Guard calls off South Padre search for fisherman

Coast Guard calls off search for captain

BCSOUTH PADRE ISLAND — The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for a 60-year-old Brownsville man who officials say fell overboard late Saturday from a commercial fishing boat.

The Coast Guard searched until sunset Monday for the captain of the Si Se Puede that was about 20 miles offshore from South Padre Island when a crewmember reported at 11:54 p.m Saturday that the captain had fallen overboard.

Officials would not release the captain's name.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Nayo Gallegos, at the Corpus Christi station, said Monday that the decision to call off the search was based on “survivability,” among other factors such as water temperature and how well searchers have covered the area.

Gallegos said that a person who falls overboard, with or without a life jacket, is expected to survive for about 36 hours, depending on the water temperature.

The water offshore of South Padre Island is about 78 degrees, he said.

Officials did not know how the man fell from the boat but he reportedly was not wearing a life jacket.

Coast Guard Lt. Nick Leiter, spokesman from Coast Guard Station Corpus Christi, said that a helicopter, a Falcon jet from Air Station Corpus Christi and a 33-foot rescue boat from the South Padre Island Coast Guard station participated in the search.